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Carjackers drive into crowd, kill 3 kids in Philadelphia

Two men forced a woman into the backseat of her car at gunpoint and drove it into a group of people on a corner in Philadelphia on Friday, killing two children and critically injuring three other people, police said.

Carjackers drive into crowd, kill 3 kids in Philadelphia

A police officer walks past the wreckage of a carjacked vehicle that police say hit a group of people on a corner in Philadelphia on Friday, July 25, 2014, killing two children and critically injuring three other people. One of the children was pronounced dead at the scene and another at a hospital, Homicide Capt. James Clark said.(Photo: Alejandro A. Alvarez AP)

A Philadelphia chapter of the Fraternal Order of the Police is kicking in an additional $10,000 to create a $110,000 reward toward finding two suspects who hijacked an SUV in north Philadelphia Friday morning and rammed into a crowd, killing three children -- a sister and two brothers.

"We really want to get these individuals off the street," Philadelphia police Lt. John Sandford said of the two suspects who forced a 45-year-old woman into the back seat of her white Toyota 4Runner before apparently losing control of the vehicle.

Sandford said the police department believes the suspects may have had a blow out and that they drove on the wheel rim at a high rate of speed, causing them to lose control. The three youngsters who died were a girl, 15, and two boys, 10 and 7, who were selling fruit to raise money for their church, the lieutenant said.

"They're babies, they're kids, they're out there selling fruit with their mother and I believe a neighbor and for the church," Sandford said by telephone Friday night. "They're out there doing a good cause."

The word of the additional funds from the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge Five, contingent upon an arrest happening by noon ET Saturday, came after Mayor Michael Nutter tweeted from a trip in Paris that his office was offering a $100,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Initially, the police department announced a $40,000 reward.

"Help with info to catch those involved with the death of kids, injuries to their mother/another adult, there is a $100k reward; please help," the mayor tweeted at about 7 p.m. ET.

Since the incident that took place a little before 11:30 a.m.. ET, the Philadelphia Police Department has been pleading for the public's help in capturing the two suspects, one Hispanic man and one black man.

Sandord said the mother was "fighting for her life."

In addition to the mother being injured, the 45-year-old driver of the SUV was in critical but stable condition and talking to detectives, and a 65-year-old woman was in stable condition, The Inquirer reported.

At 11:22 a.m. on Friday, the motorist was driving her white Toyota 4Runner SUV in north Philadelphia when the two men forced her at gunpoint into the back seat and drove the vehicle into an intersection, striking a crowd of pedestrians, police said. The 10-year-old boy was prounounced dead at the scene.

"Something obviously went horribly wrong at this intersection," Homicide Capt. James Clark said. "The vehicle went out of control, striking these five individuals."

The two men fled on foot, according to police.

"These suspects are to be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached by members of the public," the police department wrote on its Facebook page.

The agency asked anyone with information to call the department at 215-686-TIPS (8477) or to message the department privately via Facebook.

Police sought footage from surveillance cameras in the area to gather evidence and asked anyone with information in the case to come forward.